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Free Z Central Station 2012 Monthly Calendar

Welcome to the 2012 Z Central Station's free PDF monthly calendar!  This is a free download.  Just click on the calendar image to start the download.  Enjoy!

Never had a blog but now seems just as good a time as any to start one. I think that I never really had a good subject to write on but chronicling the creation of my first layout seems like a good place to start.

When I was in high school my parent moved to Japan and I went from a suburban neighborhood to living in an apartment in Tokyo. I had always looked forward to November which is when my dad and I would pull out the boxes of train parts to set up a layout for Christmas. Each year the boxes seemed to grow with more and more stuff but they couldn't make the trip with us to Japan. That is where I discovered Marklin Z. I purchased a basic starter kit and amazingly it fit on the register that was under my window in my room. I was hooked.

While in Japan I collected a few more cars and the T1+T2+T3 and E expansion sets. I even brought some of them along to college and set them up during Christmas. The real excitement came later when I discovered eBay. Years had passed between college and that moment and I had all but forgotten about my trains. After a friend had showed the eBay to me I had fun poking around at all the vast diversity of items available. That is when it hit me and I quickly did a search on Marklin. I was astounded at the listings, over 100 items!

Over the next several years I purchased items here and there and stashed them away in my basement. The trouble began when my wife found the collection. I was surprised and a little embarressed at how large it had grown.  And thus I was given and ultimatum, do something with them or get rid of them!

 It has been nearly two years since that statement and I have finally begun to create. Where it will lead, only time will tell . . . 

I finally decided on the Zize of my layout. A mere 30 inches wide, L shape, length 77.5 inches on the short and 126.5 on the long. Now I've just gotta come up with a track plan that will let me do switching & run trains continuously. I have an idea from an article in model railroad magazine based on a real modern RR in Lakesville Minn. I think I'll take creative licence and fictionalize it. The article is in June 2002 MR mag. Name of real company is Progressive Rail. Now I need to find a couple of Eletromotive switchers in Z scale. I know good luck huh......

Creation actually began in January of 2008 as part of a New Year's resolution to get my trains up and running. I had looked at book and magazines for years dreaming and planning but finally time to make a reality.

I decided on a lightweight bench work with a quick set of supports that I could embellish later if needed. Most books seem to lean toward about 50" as the ideal height but I opted for something a little lower (42") because I thought it would be easier to work on and a better height for my kids to see.

The framing was done with 1" x 4"s topped with 1/8" plywood. 1" x 3" cross braces were added about 18" apart for a little extra support. The plywood was left over from another project so I build the frames to match and ended up with two platforms, 5'7" x 2' and 5'10" x 2'. The legs were 2" x 3" screwed to the underside 1" x 3" supports. An addition 1" x 3" frame was added 6" from the bottom of the legs for increased stability.

All screws were pre-drilled with a counter sink bit to keep the wood from splitting and provide a smooth finish. 1" x 4" were attached with 1-1/4" drywall screws, legs with 2" drywall screws and plywood with #8, 1/2" wood screws. Corner clamps were used to ensure everything was square.

I added 1" pink foam board on top and secured it with Liquid Nails. Not the best choice as it is rather thick and it was difficult to compress the foam against the plywood and force the Liquid Nails to spread out. As a result the foam stood off the plywood a bit in some areas.

I arranged the tables in an L formation and that is where they stood for nearly a year until Ifinally decieded what to do.

Uncle Sugar gave me a bit a change, so as soon as I could, I got in touch with my favorite dealer.  Picked up another B unit for the CB&Q (this one had all the stripes it was supposed to on it) and I got 2 PENNZEE reefers that were sitting on the virtual shelf for a while. This puts my total reefers at 6, even though the numbers are starting to repeat.

I got the Pennsy shell in the mail, a trade for a CB&Q A unit shell. When that comes in, oh boy oh boy. Next step will be trying to erase the tiny, tiny, art deco "A", and try to find an art deco "C" to take its place.
Hopefully, my new job will pan out and I will make enough scratch to send them off to get DCC'd.

For now, I am now running my A & B unit and reefers round and round my oval, chasing the tail.

I've read lots of advice, howto, intro, and helpful things on the internet about modeling railroads.

But nowhere is there any information for the beginner, such as myself, on how to document a build online. A sort of best practices for noobs. Sure I can read about how to blog one place and macro photo in another; there's an article or two published about photographing models every now and then. Composition and framing subjects aside, there isn't much in terms of sharing the process of building itself.

Some options:

• dedicated site / cms / blog 
• hosted blog (like this one)
• facebook / google+
• flickr / instagram
• live video stream

Micro-Trains Line Dormitory Camp Cars #2 Build

I enjoy building laser kits, but have never attempted to document a build.  This is my first try at documenting a laser-kit build.  But first, remember I am not a professional and I may deviate from the original instructions, even worse… make mistake(s).

After opening the package, I laid out the pieces.  I am not building the kits as logging cars, but plan to decorate them as MOW cars.  So my first step is to use my Prismacolor pens to paint the outset sides.  I have French Grey 20% and Cool Grey 50% color pens, the percentages represent the darkness (opaqueness) of the color.  I used the broad end of the French Grey 20% to paint a base color.  I am not worried about uniform painting, this is a MOW car.

Now we get to business with assembly.  The 3-piece chassis assembly is simple since they are “peel-and-stick”.  I have one chassis assembled and the other with three braces and a wall glued to it.  My preference is using Tacky Glue, but any wood glue will work.  And to apply the glue I use a toothpick or the safety pin, sometimes it is easier to hold the safety pin.  The emery board is used to clean excess from the parts and any dried glue from the toothpick/safety pin.



You can see the cars are taking shape, and you can see how the MOW cars are developing their own unique personality.  The sides are glued to the chassis and this completes Page #1 instructions.  This also completes assembly of the large pieces.



This next photo displays the completed instructions Page #2 and Page #3.  This part is the time consuming portion of the build.  Applying the “peel-and-stick” windows, door trim, and side strips took some time.  Using tweezers, I tried to lightly place the piece onto the area of coverage, then used the toothpick to set the piece.  One comment about the “peel-and-stick” is once it is on, it is firmly on.

 Note: If I every build another logging car kit, I will assemble the window frames, windows, and door strips first before assembling the sides.  It would have been easier to apply the window frames, windows, and the door strips before the wall is glued to the chassis.

Now you can see the cars really developing.  Oh, and there is an extra window frame, window, and strips for a future kit bash.

Now comes the car roofing.  Original instructions stated to glue the roof parts on to the frame.  Knowing that “I” have a problem with lining up pre-glued pieces with “area coverage”, I took a different assembly route.  I used the pre-glued roof side and applied that to the car frame, which I did not have to wait for it to dry or set.  Some of the roof pieces fit in a specific manner, so be aware of that.  This step also completes the instructions for Page #4.

Here you can see the kit pieces are missing from their original locations.  The MOW cars are definitely looking good.  Ok.  To glue the roofing tarp on, I used Elmer’s “Washable School Glue”.  Elmer’s produces several formulas of their white glue, and this type is thin and very manageable, it gives me extra time to align roofing pieces.  The stacks are in and this completes not only Page #5 instructions but the complete instruction pamphlet.

The stacks have been painted with Polly Scale Tarnished Black.  I started to use some chalks on the roofing.  I believe I used a few shades of gray, black, brown, and red around the stacks.  I applied my custom decals, and it looks my D&RGW MOW train project is turning out fantastic.  Once the decals are dried I will weather the cars more with chalks, then seal with some Dullcoat.



These car kits have been out for some time, it has not been until recently that I picked up a few, and set some time aside to build them.  I can see many different variations to building/decorating these cars.  Once I get the final finish, I will post those photos.

This is a test of some photos I took with my iPad2. It's all z-scale stuff - code 40 ME unweathered rail with z- and n-scale PCB ties from handlaidtrack.com. Not really sure if this componentized variant of trackwork is considered handlaid, but considering all the extra work required versus popping some snap track into place - it should be considered handlaid. The n-scale ties are for throwbars (not yet installed in photos).

The inner rail radius on the curves (bright blue line) is about 7-3/4", the turnout is a number 6 without the throwbar. The curves were done by pre-bending one rail, using a mainline straight jig to solder the inner rail to the PCB's, popping it out of the jig and then finishing with gauges to attach the pre-bent outer rail. This results in some natural hyperelevation in the curves which can be removed when the rail is attached to roadbed/substrate.

View the official photostream of the official chicken on flickr.

Right now, the complete build-time for a turnout is about 2-3 hours, and I'm laying curved or straight track about 6" an hour, just taking my time. 99% of the time is prepping the PCB ties - making all the stock, diverging, frog, point rails is easy in comparison (with the jigs and filing guides) to trying to sand down 1/16"square by 1/2" long copper-clad fiberglass sticks. I spent about an hour and half prepping 100 of the copper ties (28 per 90-degree arc) followed by another 20 mins soldering the rails. 

I expect that as my skills and technique increase, I should be able to build a turnout in about an hour, or lay close to 1 foot of track.

Quick note - Flickr sucks right now, but I hope it won't always. Good luck to MM trying to clean the suck out of Yahoo!

I'll take some more photos later with a better camera. Let me know what you think!

It's said that people who live with a pet being to look like each other. I wonder if it's true with layouts?

After a little advice with where to start, I'm going to start sharing how I'm about to make my first layout. I'll try to open it up to feedback as much as possible, especially at the beginning when it's most likely to have a big impact. I'm also going to try to rationalize some decisions here, irrationalize others for sometimes rational reasons, and hopefully share some photos of builds. 

Before I begin, I just want to point out that CAD and design tools are great. As someone with quite literally a lifetime using them, I also know when in the design process I shouldn't. Now is one of those times. I tried and tried and tried and have failed for months to come up with a decent small layout. I caught a case of "Not Invented Here" syndrome while focusing on other things. Once diagnosed, the remedy and recovery is quick and simple: find the pro.

David K. Smith has a great description of this plan at his website, but I could't find any examples or mentions of it being built. Reading the description of it made me jump! YES! This is what I've been trying to achieve and here it is, and I don't have to use a CAD tool! That's also how I stumbled on to this site. After a few false starts trying to design one myself, I had finally found a pro who is graciously giving the plans away for free on the internet. David, if you read this, I'll order some more of your fine products ASAP (awesome products, would not be working in z scale without that NZT ruler).

First, the base or source design - "Centraila & Western" by David K. Smith:

Copyright © 2007-2012 by David K. Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Since I'm handlaying track, and theming with a greenspace-intensive "industry" centered in the layout, I softened, race tracked, and rotated a bit, resulting in a bit more closely parallel track an relo a building:

I reconfigured the roads too, adding a bit of parking lot to the 50% enlarged building in the middle. I can extend or cut the spurs to any length, and here I'm showing the max. Adding a bit of sand and grass allows me to play with positive and negative a bit. Night-time lighting is going to be fun! My roommate thinks that it should be for the Coney Island cyclones, but I'm pretty sure he just wants to watch me struggle trying to make a working scale ferris wheel with lights.

Thinking about zones in general (power, transit, urban planning, operations) and signals led to this quick sketch:

The signals or markers are mostly B.S... I haven't learned how/where they're prototypically positioned yet. Double dots are ends of line, dark blue are mid-point / double and cyan or light blue are single point/direction. I assume the signals are petty close to 99.9% wrong for a block system.

The eastern half may have a city/urban background backdrop bas relief to be determined.

I'd like to keep the elevation and bridge in the layout, but I still have some table-vs-coffee table issues to think about.

Let me know what you think about how I'm starting off, especially with regards to the documentation.

or why did I decide on Z-Scale model railroad.   

    I had been dabbling in N Gauge off and on since 1974, when I gave my dad a Postage Stamp train set for Christmas. During those 40 years, I had 16 different "homes" and no real rooms for a railroad layout. Well I am now retired and in the next to last home I will have, (the last being a hole in the ground.)  I have a actual room that I am allowed to do (almost) anything that I want.  It's my little 80 sq foot of sloping ceiling space that houses my hobbies.

   I have been building kits and collecting cars for the last 10 years in hopes that I would have space to display them. 80 Sq feet of sloping ceiling space isn't a lot when part of it is taken up by a swing in door, a 6 ft work table, a rack of ham radio equipment, and boxes & boxes of "toys."  I don't have enough space for all of the track & buildings & stuff to do justice to N, so I made an executive decision to sell of all my other hobbies (except ham radio) and start all over in Z.

  I am well past middle age so my eyes are not as good as the use to be, and I have a little shakiness in my hands. The joy of Z to me is that I have to go into a full concentration mode (a Zen like state)  that overcomes the scourge of getting old, to build and run this railroad.